Late Birthday
by Inomuiro
Summary: LeeShikamaru. Birthday fic for the lazy genius! “Are you going to have a late birthday party?” ...“I hope not” Shikamaru sighed. Shonen ai, fluff.


Here's my late birthday fic for the lazy boy happy birthday, Shikamaru-chan!

Settled in the same story-line that my other LeeShikamaru fics on LJ (the ones I can't post here ) the boys are together and around eighteen.

Be careful, fluff ahead! XD

**Late Birthday...**

Shikamaru tapped on the Godaime's office door and waited for the muffled "Come in". He stepped into the room, closing the door behind his back and quicly saluted. Tsunade waved at him from behind vatious piles of documents. Shizune was at her side, busy checking some documents and writing notes.

"Nara… so, what was the outcome of your mission?"

"A success. Waterfall country governor wasn't so… unflexible after all. It seems this idea of him about taxes on foreign ninja services will come to nothing." Shikamaru spoke dryly, doing his best to keep the boredom out of his voice. That was the third diplomatic mission the Hokage entrusted him in the last month. They were less tough than usual "on-field" missions, and he was becoming quite skilled in that kind of political games but the simple fact he had to work to make people taking seriously a guy thirty years younger than the average politician around, was tiring enough. Done that, for the most it was a matter of putting ideas around and making people think they were the ones to have them. Oh, and don't make them seem stupid, obviously, that was the hardest part.

"Here's the complete report." He added, and, after a little hesitation he put the paper on Tsunade's desk, careful not to make the whole pile fall. The woman nodded vaguely, her eyes following the lines od the document she had in her hand. Shikamaru decided he had been dismissed, and turned back to the door.

"By the way, wasn't it your birthday, two days ago?" The comment stopped him halfway through reaching for the handle. The young man glanced back and shrugged.

"Yes, it was."

"Are you going to have a late birthday party?" Tsunade asked, looking down at the papers she was sorting.

Shikamaru wondered why the Godaime was concerned. But in the end everything involving a party, and consequently sakè, was somehow of her interest, so…

"I hope not" he sighed. "Lee's away to Grass for that mission, and Ino insists we should wait for him" or for somebody else on Team Gai, he silently added. "So I hope that when they'll come back, everybody'd already have forgotten about it."

"Mph. You should enjoy yourself more, boy" Tsunade mumbled. "Anyway, Team Gai is dued to be back the day after tomorrow, they reported the mission was accomplished yesterday. Some fun won't kill you, you know? I could even give you some vacation…"

Shikamaru muttered something about fun and parties that ended with a word suspiciously similar to "Troublesome", which earned him a scowl and a resigned sigh. He turned, opened the door, took a step out of the room, and was knocked back and down sprawled over the floor by what looked like an avalanche in green.

"Shikamaru!" Rock Lee pushed himself up on his arms, then he flopped down again and hugged the shinobi under him, hard enough to cut out what little was left of Shikamaru's breath.

"Shikamaru, I'm so sorry! Yesterday morning I left immediately for Waterfall, but you were already on your way back here, so I ran here too as fast as I could, I'm sorry it took so long, I'll do three thousand, no, I mean ten thousand run-laps around Konoha, I will become so fast something like this will never happen again…"

Shikamaru managed to disentangle from Lee's hold enough to pull himself up and sit. Lee raised up on his knees too, his hands on Shikamaru's shoulders, still going on with his apologies without even trying to calm his laboured breath.

Shikamaru examined the taijutsu specialist's ragged appearance. Lee was covered with dust and dirt, some leaves were stuck into his hair and there were scratches over his flushed face. The Konoha genius sighed, then sent him an agry glare.

"Stupid!" He reached to pull a stick out of his hair. "The day was already passed… what was the point of pushing yourself this way, and after a mission too?"

Lee smiled. "But I had to!" He reached back to his backpack, rummaged through it and, after discarding some kunai, a blanket, and what looked just like a spare legwarmer, on the Hokage office's floor, he finally produced a small enamelled wooden box, with complicated patterns, reminding of water and fishes, carved over it. "Happy birthday!" he solemnly declared, aloud.

Shikamaru looked at it, then back to Lee, questioningly.

"Ah, uhm…" Lee suddenly seemed quite embarrassed. "It's… uhm, I haven't got the time to wrap it up properly… it's… it's a kind of chess game I've never seen around here, it's from Grass." He offered the box to Shikamaru who took it in silence. Lee scratched his head, his cheeks quickly reddening. He looked away "There's a paper inside. With the rules, I mean… I… I wanted to give it to you the sooner I could-"

He was interrupted by the sudden soft pressure of Shikamaru's lips on his own. The lazy genius backed after a moment, and smiled.

"Thank you. I like it, a lot." He said, then he shot him a critical glance. "Even if you really had not to reduce yourself to this state."

Lee smiled back, reaching to caress Shikamaru's face. "Happy birthday…" he repeated, lower.

A reproaching cough suddenly interrupted them. They looked up, and Shikamaru realized four chunin were all staring at them from the door (with a various range of facial expression, going from "eww" to "aww"). Meanwhile, Lee completely round eyes showed he just met Tsunade's glare. The Hokage had come to stand right behind them, arms folded. Shizune was covering her mouth with her hand, looking away and clearly trying not to giggle aloud.

"Oh, do as you please, don't mind us…" Tsunade sighed, as Lee and Shikamaru quickly stood up and composed themselves. She glared to the chunin, who quickly cleared out the doorframe. "So" she turned to Lee, busy with wiping off his uniform. "Got any problem on your way back?"

"No, ma'am. I asked Gai-sensei permission to leave before them, since my presence was not required anymore…" he quickly said. Shikamaru just looked outside the window, trying to calculate how many chuckles and sided-looks from the Godaime this would have mean for him in the near future…

"Very well. I need your report." Tsunade sat back on her chair and put elbows on the desk, joining fingers. She looked at them for some moments, then she just lied back and waved them away.

"Just do it to Nara, he will report to me later. You're dismissed."

"Thank you." Shikamaru said, and hurried Lee out of the room, before he started to thank her for her comprehension and probable partnership in crime.

"C'mon" he said Lee as they made out of the palace. "We better go home, you really need a bath… You really never have some consideration, don't you?"

Lee chuckled, running a hand through his hair to wipe off the leaves, and leaned to give Shikamaru a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I just wanted to get back to you the sooner I could." He whispered.

'Cause that was Lee, Shikamaru thought, still smiling like he lately happened to do so often, and guess because of who. Lee who always worked so hard, for what he cared.

Some fun wouldn't have killed him, Tsunade-sama was right. After all, he really could do with a little private party.

FIN


End file.
